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The Game Changers

There’s a small group of men who are changing your world. Some of them you’ll recognize, but some operate behind the curtain. They have ideas, and they have the resources to execute them. From the thrift shop to outer space, these men are the new generation of innovators. They’re changing the rules. Fixing the system. And taking us all along for the ride.

THE TRANSPORTER // Rocketing toward the future

PayPal co-founder Elon Musk hopes to get you from New York to L.A. in less than an hour. But that’s just one of his goals.

How massive are 42-year-old Elon Musk’s plans for changing the transportation game? Let’s start with the most basic concept—Tesla Motors, the company that’s producing the definitive electric car, which performed “better, or just as well overall” as any auto that Consumer Reports has ever tested, scoring a near 99/100 on their scale. His next, slightly more ambitious project? It’s called the Hyperloop. If completed, it would shuttle people from New York to L.A. in under an hour via a series of pneumatic tubes (think of The Jetsons and you won’t be far off). The concept is still in its infancy, but Musk promised it would be “a cross between a Concorde, a rail gun, and an air hockey table,” at the AllThingsD’s D11 conference earlier this year. Still, both of those innovations pale in comparison with his grandest plan—colonization of Mars. While his designs on how to do it haven’t been announced yet, Musk sees expanding humanity’s footprint to other planets as a must if we’re to ensure the survival of our species. His company, SpaceX, which produces rockets for NASA as well as private investors, is poised to help humanity make it a reality. It’s just one small step for Musk, but a giant leap for mankind. —Sam DeHority

Fit Fact: Musk uses his 20,248-square-foot home, which features a swimming pool, tennis court, and home gym, to help him stay in shape.